


sleepless nights

by gortysproject



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angel Lives, F/F, Fluff ?, Mentions of past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:27:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7026658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gortysproject/pseuds/gortysproject
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel finds peace in the quiet corners of Sanctuary. Maya, it seems, finds peace in Angel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sleepless nights

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at 1am ... be nice. c;

“Can’t sleep?”

The siren is startled from her position on the edge of the platform at the sudden voice, flinching hard enough to nearly slip off altogether. Her hand grabs at the side of the ridge to steady herself; it forfeits the book she was holding, which tumbles now to the ground below. Angel glances over her shoulder to see Maya standing behind her, lips quirked into an odd smirk and tattooed arm outstretched. Her hand is clenched in a fist.

“What are you –?”

“ _One_ of us needs to have good reflexes, I guess.” Maya nods to the space below where Angel’s book had fallen, and the siren’s eyes follow the trail to see her book being… phaselocked. In mid-air. Sat among the clouds in a swirling vortex. 

Having been the one to accompany Maya as she explored her powers, Angel knows full well that the siren can pull the bubble towards them, dropping the book back in Angel’s lap for her to fumble with. “I – thanks.”

Maya smiles again, though this one seems softer than the confident, sharp-edged twist of her lips from before. Silently, she gestures to the space beside Angel, and the younger woman shuffles over unnecessarily to show she’s prepared to share her space.

They’re tucked away behind Marcus’ store, sat on an overhanging slab of concrete at the edge of Sanctuary’s floating fortress. It’s the sort of spot one only gets to with an ability to jump very high, a skill in climbing walls, or a pair of wings. Angel has the wings.

Maya, she remembers after a moment, has all three.

“You didn’t answer,” her companion says after a moment, eyes fixated on the stars stretching endlessly before them. Elpis sits in the distance, a warm presence in the inky sky, the H-shape of Helios carving a chilly reminder into the scenery that there is still a war to win.

Angel tries for a smile. “I was too busy trying not to _fall_ to Pandora.” Maya huffs a laugh. “Besides, it’s unfair that you’re so quiet. I’m – not used to not knowing where people are.” She thumbs through the pages of her book, spilled open on her lap, and sighs. “I don’t sleep, really. The eridium – seemed to energise me enough. I could always be awake, ready for Jack’s next instruction.” She tries for a laugh to lighten the heavy tone of conversation, but it comes out more as a sigh. “Now I don’t know what to – _how_ to switch off.”

Raising her eyes from the worn pages of her story to her companion’s face, Angel swallows heavily. Maya seems thoughtful. “You know, like, everything about me, don’t you,” she says. It’s not a question, but Angel nods nonetheless. 

“Jack’s orders.”

Maya doesn’t seem to care about that. “Well… you know I’m not lying when I say I know how you feel, then.” The words seem awkward as she says them, as though she isn’t accustomed to this, as though she doesn’t know how to act when saying them.

Angel had never really thought about it. “You think we’re similar?”

Blue hair flicks out of Maya’s face with a quick jerk of her head. She seems unsurprisingly solemn when their eyes meet again. “Sure I do,” she replies easily, though it seems somewhat strained. “I mean, look at me. I’m a siren. The guy who was supposed to take care of me locked me away for my entire childhood to train me up, used me as a weapon against the people of my planet, and spent the entire time telling me I’ve gotta _protect_ them from some phoney evil. Sound familiar?”

Setting the book aside, Angel lifts one of her legs to hug her knee to her chest. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She hesitates. “Jack is just another Brother Sophis, then.”

It seems Maya can sense the unsaid, _but I don’t get what point you’re trying to make,_ as her next words are, “And you remember what I did to Sophis, right?”

At some point, the older woman leant in, and Angel’s gaze lifts to find the Vault Hunter’s face incredibly close to her own. She swallows. “I remember,” she replies obediently, and her stomach clenches as a wicked grin slowly spreads across Maya’s cheeks.

“Good. Because these assholes are always gonna exist, but it’s up to us to make sure there’s less of them.”

A small smile of its own is pulling at Angel’s lips, and she glances down momentarily as her teeth bite down on her lower lip to try and prevent such a smile. “Is this a motivational speech?” she asks, amused.

“Call it what you want,” the Vault Hunter replies easily. “I’d think of it as more of an icebreaker.”

They hover there for a moment longer, the younger woman’s heart thudding in her chest as she tries to decide whether to surge forward or pull back, and then Maya’s leaning back against a shredded metal pole sticking up from the ground.

“Read a lot?” she asks, the subject changing quickly. Angel’s eyes move to the book beside her and she picks it up again to pass to Maya. 

“I had a lot of time back in the Control Core Angel,” she mumbles. “My job was to talk to you, and wait for you to need me. Reading passes the time.”

The other siren cackles, chin jutting up into the air as she leans her head back. “Oh, jeez, that just brought back memories. Yeah, Sophis would lock me in my room to meditate and _become one with the universe,_ and all that crap. I read to pass the time, too. Mainly history, you know, history was cool.”

Angel relaxes, her own back resting against another slab of concrete perpendicular to the one they sit on. “Mhm,” she hums in reply. “History was nice, for a while – but since all the books were provided by Jack, there were only so many times I could read –” She sharpens her tone of voice to mimic a shrill version of Jack. “— _and then I saved Pandora, and then I saved Pandora again, and everyone thought I was such a great guy for saving Pandora…_ You get the idea. Hyperion doesn’t know how to write a decent book. You’d think, if it were all made up, that it would actually be an _exciting_ story, but not with my luck.”

Maya’s laughing again, a chuckle that stemmed from Angel’s impression of Jack, and she puts the book down to fold her arms. “Oh, come on. Do it again. The voice, do the voice.”

Her smile growing, Angel tries to recreate the comedic tone, but just starts giggling instead. It feels nice to let go; it’s been so long since she laughed.

Meanwhile, the Vault Hunter’s shaking her head with a mocking version of disappointment. “Guess that was a once in a lifetime chance, then.” She still looks amused even when the smile fades, the corners of her piercing blue eyes slightly creased. 

Dawn is beginning to peek up from behind the slowly-silhouetted Elpis, and Maya and Angel are both distracted by the sight. The sky transforms swiftly from its deep blue to a gentle lilac colour, and it seems that Maya’s taking that as her cue to leave.

“Alright, _Guardian Angel_ ,” says the other siren with an edge of finality in her tone, “I guess I’ll be seeing you tonight. Same place?”

Angel is caught off-guard. “I. Uh. Yes?”

“Sweet, I’ll see you th—”

“Don’t you need to sleep, too?” Angel asks, hesitant, frowning up at Maya as she stands up from her spot on the edge of Sanctuary. 

Another smile forms, and Maya shakes her head. “Nah,” she says. “I don’t sleep, I meditate.” With a wink, she turns to leave, hopping onto some precariously-placed rubble to swing herself over the edge of the wall separating Angel’s spot from the rest of Sanctuary.

The younger siren watches her go, the echo of _you remember what I did to Sophis, right_ playing through her mind, and decides Jack was right. Vault Hunters _are_ dangerous.

She also decides she loves it.


End file.
